Marie woke up at 8:30 on Saturday morning, which was late for her, and revelled in the beautiful feeling that is waking up all on your own and not having to get out of bed, until her heart jumped into her throat when she realised Holly hadn't woken her. She jumped up and rushed to the kitchen. No-one there. She rushed back along the hallway to the guest bedroom, and stopped outside it listening. No sounds. She opened the door quietly.

Holly and Skyler were lying together, Holly's arm around her teddy and Skyler's arm around Holly. Both of them looked to be peacefully sleeping. Marie let out a long breath and retreated.

She made herself a small fruit salad and decided to eat it on the sofa watching TV. She really didn't feel like doing anything at all. She turned on the TV and began scrolling through the channels. She found a breakfast panel show she sometimes liked to watch, and she put down the remote and settled in to watch it. There was a story about a dog that helped the disabled little boy who owned it by pulling him around on a little cart. It was a very uplifting story. Then there was an infomercial about a power blender that would turn healthy ingredients like vegetables and flax seeds into a kind of sauce you could mix into pizza sauce or spread on fried chicken. "Making bad good!" was the slogan.

"Huh," said Marie.

"For our sofa interview today, we have someone whose story broke very quietly last week but is rapidly becoming one of the most talked about things in the nation. I'd like to introduce Margaret Shaw, who used to work at an Albuquerque company called Beneke Fabricators with none other than the infamous Skyler White, who is currently on trial for drug-related money laundering in what is clearly the longest and most drawn out trial of all time, am I right?"

There was a chorus of laughs and boos from the studio audience.

Marie crossed her arms.

"We're not gonna talk about that because it's boring as hell. Margaret here went public last week with the story that Mrs White was sleeping with their boss, Ted Beneke, a man who has since gone bankrupt and been charged with tax fraud. She can really pick 'em, can't she?"

Margaret and the studio audience laughed. Marie frowned.

"Beneke was found to have been fiddling with the company's accounts, assisted by Mrs White - well we've heard that one before, haven't we?" The host looked at the camera and paused for effect. "Except we haven't. Margaret. Tell us everything you know."

"Well I met Skyler White when she came in to apply for a data entry job, and she was particularly noticeable at that time because she was heavily pregnant and not at all in a condition to be applying for a job, and yet Mr Beneke hired her as the accounts manager."

"She applied for data entry and he put her in as accounts manager straight off the bat?"

"Yeah well she had actually done that job before, she used to work there before I came along, so she was qualified for it and everything, but it wasn't what we were hiring for and she went on maternity leave like one month in, and Mr Beneke drove her to the hospital and spent all day with her there."

"Well that doesn't ring alarm bells at all."

"I know, right? Then he let her work with the baby in the office absolutely all the time, which was really not conducive to a productive workplace because it would cry, of course. One time, Mr Beneke had some really high value clients in the meeting room, and the baby was crying so loudly the meeting had to stop. I talked to Mr Beneke about it afterwards because the clients were really not happy and they complained to me on the way out, and I told Mr Beneke this is hurting the company, you know? He was the boss, he could tell Skyler to put the baby in day care! And he said oh no, she doesn't wanna do that because she's still breastfeeding and the baby's so small and she and her husband don't have much money and -"

"What?"

"Yeah, ironic too, right? I don't think he had a clue what was going on there. I think she drove him along for the chump that he was. Milked him for all he was worth. The company ended up going bankrupt and we all lost our jobs."

"Because of her?"

"Because of both of them. They were found to be guilty of tax fraud."

The host looked at her notes. "Now the facts on that, Ted Beneke was charged with tax fraud in 2010; he pled guilty but got a suspended sentence served under house arrest because of his disability. He has a disability?"

"He didn't back then. He broke his neck in some accident after that."

"Is that why she ditched him?"

Margaret laughed. "Maybe."

"Skyler wasn't charged with tax fraud, though."

"No, but they know she was involved."

"Ok, I am gonna mention the trial now to say that evidence was presented by the IRS regarding that in the trail of Skyler White, however Beneke has apparently claimed that she wasn't involved."

"Yeah, that's her secret, isn't it? Get some chump to fall in love with her and then they take the blame. She's probably had a lot of practice at it because I bet she's had chumps falling in love with her her whole life - she is definitely one of the beautiful people."

There was a murmur from the crowd.

"What about Mr Beneke, is he good to look at?"

"Oh yeah, Mr Beneke was actually pretty smoking before his accident. A big step up from her husband."

The host laughed. "Did you ever meet Walter White?"

"Yeah, I called security on him."

The audience gasped.

"Really? What happened?"

"He found out. That's what happened." Margaret smiled, and the host made an overdone look of fake shock.

"Up until that point, we all knew that Skyler was sleeping with Mr Beneke, but that was the first time that we were all really slapped in the face with it. Walter White pulled up in our parking lot with a screech of brakes in this old Aztec, and Mr Beneke saw him coming and he ran into his office and turned the lights off! I didn't know who he was at first, I thought he was an angry client, but then I figured it out. He was demanding to speak to Mr Beneke and I was saying no, and he pushed right past me yelling the house down because he knew Mr Beneke was there because he could see into his office! Mr Beneke had turned the lights off but he hadn't bothered to shut the blinds! At that point I called security, and a bunch of our colleagues heard the commotion and came out to see what was happening, including Skyler. And it was so pathetic. She was just hissing at him, like, 'Walt, what are you doing?' And he was picking up a large pot plant from our reception area and attempting to break the window of Mr Beneke's office with it."

"Ooh. Nasty."

"Well no not really, because he was this weedy little man in glasses and cream pants; he could hardly lift the thing, and when he tried to throw it it travelled about a foot, bounced off the glass and fell over on the floor."

The studio audience laughed.

"Then security arrived and kicked him out. At the time, I was outraged that something like that had disturbed the peace of my office, but in hindsight it is rather funny."

"A weedy little man in glasses and cream pants, really?"

"Yeah."

"That was Walter White?"

"Yeah. The news always shows photographs of him looking scary, but they always do that with criminals. They want you to be scared. The reality of him, not so much. He was certainly demanding, but in a pathetic way, not a scary way."

"Oh come on, the guy just found out his wife was cheating on him! Cut him some slack!"

The studio audience made an aww-ing noise.

Marie heard the click of her nephew's crutches in the hall, and she quickly turned the television off and stood up, frowning and thinking hard. She felt sick. But what had caused that hadn't been the rest of it - that was surreal. What had caused it was the idea that anybody could possibly feel sorry for Walt.

Marie went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and wash the foul taste out of her mouth. She found Flynn there. "Morning!" she said. "You are up before your sister! What the hell is going on?"

"Holly's not up? Is she ok?"

"Yeah, I checked on them. They're both asleep."

"I think sh-she could be going too far with this…doctor thing."

"I know, she's so worried about her mother! It is so heartbreaking to see a three-year-old do that!"

"Yeah."

"And she's so helpful, it's so sweet."

"Aunt Marie, u-umm. I was…wanting to ask you. You said that th-the nurse that came to see Mom told you that…she sh-shouldn't be left alone. Why was that?"

"Because she was very concerned about her."

"Did she s-say why?"

"I don't know, I wasn't in the room. She did some kind of mental health assessment. Asked her questions. Checked things. I don't know. I'm sure it's fine, I just... wanna do…what she recommended."

...

Kim, dressed in tracksuit pants and a pale blue sweatshirt, which was unusual because she normally appeared in a neatly pressed suit, knocked on Marie's front door at 9:45.

"Hi Kim," said Marie, clearly surprised. "Has there been a development?"

"Not in particular. I'm just here to pick up Skyler, if she's..."

"Oh! Oh, ok. She's not up yet."

"That's ok, I'm early - I told her I was coming at 10."

Flynn appeared in the hallway behind his aunt, Holly trailing behind him talking about My Little Ponies.

"Flynn!" said Kim. "You're the reason I'm early. I was wondering if we could have a talk."

Marie grabbed Holly's hand and lead her away.

"Sure. How come you're…still in Albuquerque? I thought you w-went home for the weekends."

"Yeah, I stayed over to do some research and to... manage things. I'll cover the motel if that's…"

"No no, th-that's fine. Of course. Ah, w-we could go on the balcony? Holly can't open that door yet."

There was the sound of a door being opened suddenly, and Skyler appeared in the hallway, her face unmade-up and her hair windswept. "Kim, I'm so sorry, I overslept."

"That's fine, I'm early."

"Just give me a minute, I just wanna have a quick shower because-"

"No rush, I came early to have a talk to Flynn."

Skyler frowned. "What about?"

"Nothing scary. Just checking in." Kim smiled. "Take your time."

Skyler watched with a look of fear on her face as Kim followed Flynn through the kitchen and onto the balcony. Then she turned abruptly and headed for the bathroom.

Kim and Flynn stood at the end of the balcony looking out across the valley.

"I'm worried," said Kim, "that your mother is wanting to jeopardise her case."

"What? Why?"

"Her own self-guilt. Which does not, and I have told her this, does not equate to legal liability, but she thinks it does. She says she wants to be punished."

"She's already being…punished, sh-she's already going to prison, why-why would she wanna do that for longer?"

"As far as I can tell, her self-worth has hit rock bottom, she feels responsible for your uncle's death and thinks the rest of you would be better off without her. What I would like you to do is to tell her otherwise."

"I've tried! Sh-she did not kill Uncle Hank! And while this thing about Jesse Pinkman surprises me, l-like I did not expect that she would've done that, b-but… 2+2 does not equal 5."

"Exactly. Thank you. And between you and me I don't think they'll be able to charge her with it, because there is no evidence at all. They certainly can't charge her with contributing to your uncle's death, because there is just no connection, but even on the Pinkman thing, the most she might be guilty of is conspiracy to attempt murder, but the only evidence is her own and it would be incredibly difficult for them to prosecute."

"R-really? They can't add it to…the trial?"

"Not at this late stage - Judge Stephens has already ruled that out. They are, I believe, still looking at bringing a separate charge, but I sincerely doubt it'll get anywhere. No prosecutor worth their salt is gonna bother with it."

"Oh, thank god. Th-that's great."

"What I am left with is trying to make sure she doesn't jeopardise what remains of this existing trial, which until Thursday night I thought had a chance of resulting in a not guilty verdict."

Flynn began to smile. "Really?"

"A chance. I thought there was a larger chance that it'd be knocked back to misdemeanor, a small chance the jury could say not guilty. But Skyler is obviously not happy with that idea because she thinks she deserves to go to prison, so I need your help to stop her from throwing her entire defence in the toilet."

"W-what can I do?"

"Tell her that you and Holly need her to be around. Everything she has said always leads back to the two of you - she would do anything for you."

"At the moment she th-thinks we're better off without her. She's even…telling me not to visit her in prison b-because she says I should…be enjoying college and time with my friends, a-and she thinks I won't to have time to go see her. I wanna go see her!"

"Tell her you need her."

"I really do!"

"Have you told her?"

"I've told her that I'll miss her and I want her around, I-I wanna see her."

"She needs to feel needed. She needs to feel like she has a purpose and a role to play in this family as anything other than a burden."

"Oh my god, did she say that?"

"She's not well, Flynn, and her self-esteem is so low. It needs a boost. Oh and if you could tell her that I would rather not have all my efforts go to waste either, that might not go astray."

"I told her m-months ago, when I got the money, that I would pay for a…top lawyer for her. She refused. Sh-she wouldn't have a bar of it. She said l-let me deal with my mistakes, it doesn't concern you, blah blah blah. It does concern me." Tears came to Flynn's eyes. "I don't wanna lose…my mom. Thank you so much for coming and helping her, b-because if you hadn't, I don't know what would've…happened."

"It still might."

"Dad s-screwed her up so badly, he-he actually made her think she…was making her own decisions. She wasn't, h-he was manipulating her!"

"I'm so glad you can see that, Flynn. It'll take long term therapy for her to be convinced of it, but for now, if she can feel that she is needed by her children, she will fight. We're 95% there, but if she doesn't believe in it then it's going nowhere fast."

"Ok, I-I'll talk to her."

"You need to hold nothing back. You need to show your own vulnerability, ok? How much it will hurt you if she goes to prison."

"Ok. Y-you really think this…Jesse Pinkman thing isn't gonna go anywhere?"

"Oh the DEA want it to, don't get me wrong. I snuck into the UNM law library yesterday to research similar cases and precedents. I'm gonna to have an arsenal prepared if they do decide to go for it. But that's no good if Skyler doesn't want me to use it. I'm under her instruction."

"Oh my god, she is so ridiculous."

"Oh, cut her some slack, she's been through a lot. I do understand the self-guilt, I'm just trying to make her see that legally she is not liable and everything she did was under coercion and, in the case of this Jesse Pinkman thing, pretty serious duress since he tried to burn down your house."

"Mmm. What do you mean you s-snuck into UNM?"

"Well I don't have a swipe card or anything obviously because I'm not a student there anymore. I took photos of all the relevant sections in the books I could find because I couldn't borrow them or use the photocopier! Hilarious, right? Legal partner breaks into undergrad law library."

"You can borrow m-my student card."

"Oh. Really? I didn't think to ask."

Flynn's hand went straight to his wallet and he handed the card over.

"Thanks. Don't you need this?"

"I guess. I can say I…lost it and get a new one."

"No, that would lead to us both getting kicked out. Umm. Can I borrow it until Monday? Or when is your next class?"

"M-Monday afternoon."

"Ok. I can be done with it by then."

"If you need it anytime, j-just call me or text me."

"Well I-"

"Seriously. You're-you're helping my mom. You should have…all of the books all of the time, j-just let me know."

"Got it." Kim smiled. "Thank you."

"Did you say you're not a student there…anymore? L-like, did you use to be?"

"Yeah, I got my law degree there."

"Really? I thought you were…from Chicago."

"Originally I'm from Kansas, but I came here to study and lived here for about ten years. Went to Chicago later."

"Wow! Tha-that's so cool, you went to the same college as me!"

"Go Lobos."

Flynn smiled, looking a little awestruck.

The back door clicked open, and Skyler appeared. "I'm so sorry, Kim. I forgot to set an alarm. And I've been sleeping really badly, but when I finally do get off, I am completely out to it, and I-"

"It's fine, it's fine. I've been having a lovely time with Flynn here, he is very excited to learn that I went to the same college as him."

"Oh. Right," said Skyler breathlessly, looking like she wasn't really listening. "I'm just umm, sorry, do you mind if I have a smoke before we go? I haven't had one yet and I'm -"

"No problem. Go for it."

"I'm sorry, Flynn, I'll move away from you."

She moved a few feet away, and Flynn watched her as she pulled the cigarette out of her pocket, lit it and leaned heavily on the railing. "Mom?" he said.

She finished blowing out a long stream of smoke, turned to him and said, "Yeah."

"W-why are you being so selfish?"

"What?"

"You've got this…. Y-you've got this crazy idea that…everything was your fault, when it wasn't. And in this c-crazy universe of yours, which completely revolves around you, because y-you never listen to what…anybody else thinks ever, you th-think that everything is your fault and…the only way to make anything better is for you to go to prison for…a hundred years. Well, that would not only make you even more sick, and therefore m-me and Aunt Marie even more…worried sick, it would also rip y-yet another enormous hole in our family, and cause us…so much more pain and l-leave us to try and recover whilst al-also trying to…look after Holly when n-neither of us have a clue what we're doing with that compared to you. Sh-she worships you, and a child of that age needs her mother, not her aunt – I mean, A-Aunt Marie is great, but she's…not you."

Skyler looked at Flynn with wide eyes for a moment, and then looked away. "She won't even remember me."

"Bullshit. Your damn child psychologist, sh-she'll tell you that. A child needs her mother."

Skyler's voice became shaken, broken, and Kim shifted awkwardly. "I know," she breathed. "I don't have a choice."

"But you do. Kim just told me that…up until the point when you made your crazy confession, sh-she thought you could get found n-not guilty."

Skyler's eyes snapped to Kim's. Kim held them warily. "That wouldn't be right," Skyler sighed, and her eyes fell again.

"Right by who?" Flynn demanded. "I-I want you to think about that, Mom. Right…by who? We need you here."

"For the last eighteen months, I have needed you so much more than you've needed me. It's not fair on you, I lean on you so much."

"S-stop talking out your ass! You have…no idea how much I need you! E-everyone talks about Holly all the time, is she…transitioning properly and is she gonna h-have nightmares and…blah blah blah, and n-nobody ever asks about me. I am losing my mom too, but n-nobody ever thinks about that!"

Flynn paused for a breath, and Skyler realised she could hardly see him through the tears.

"I need you! I-I know I make a big deal about being 18…all the time, but it's just a number, I s-still feel really small and…like I don't…have a clue what I'm doing in the world, and y-you always know what to say to make me feel…better and y-you always support me, my-my whole life you've always been there for me. You always listen, you…always help, you give me good advice, you… you make me my favourite food on my birthday. You're thoughtful and caring and I-I feel safe when I'm around you. I can trust that you've got my back. You're… one of very few people who doesn't…cut me off when I'm speaking. And when you're w-walking with me, I don't feel like you're slowing your…pace down. I-it's not like that with…anybody else. And I…I can trust you absolutely that you're never questioning or judging what…I'm saying ...and now I'm scared, because I d-don't wanna go through my life without…my mom. I want you to be around, I want...I want you to be there at my graduation. Which is four years away, so if you get five years then y-you won't be there."

Skyler's tears were falling now, and she grabbed his hand and held it. "I'm so sorry," she said.

"For what? For…being an idiot now and s-stomping all over your chances of freedom?"

Skyler took a breath, and stroked his hand.

"Or for breaking the law? Because that was Dad's fault, n-not yours."

"It was both our fault. We did it together."

"Oh yeah, a-all those murders and drug deals you didn't even know about."

"You have to stop thinking about it in such black and white terms - it wasn't like that. And if you're rejecting him and blaming him because of it, you need to do the same to me. You need to apply the same principles to me."

"I do. I know what you did. You broke the law. It was really fucking stupid. I'm really mad at you about that. But what you did wasn't n-nearly as bad as what he did!"

"I didn't stop it."

"Th-that doesn't make you at fault. Are we gonna blame Hitler's wife …for the Holocaust? Or Hitler himself?"

"Don't compare your -"

"Mom, y-you know from what I have done regarding Dad that I do not let things slide just

because someone is family. I do not treat someone well when they don't deserve it, n-no matter who they are. And I do not rank my needs above my principles. Y-you need to get off your self-blame bullshit, and the person you …really need to listen to about that is me, be-because I had the same relationship with both of you. And I don't give a shit that he is my father, h-he is dead to me and pushed out of my life, I can't stand him, I ch-changed my name to get away from him because of what he did. Y-you know that I do not make-up excuses and I do…not stand for any bullshit. I am not defending you because you're my mom. That doesn't get anyone a free pass i-in my book. I am defending you because from what I can see, the …vast majority of it was him not you, and I can see quite a lot. I've been there since the beginning. There's a lot of shit you…try to keep from me, but I've r-read every single media report on the trial, I-I've talked to Aunt Marie about it, I've talked to Kim about it, and I do know what's going on. I know what you did do and…w-what you didn't do. You did not kill Uncle Hank. Blaming yourself for it only makes Aunt Marie's pain worse, a-and if you think you are going to lie down and give up and l-leave me and Holly without our mom, y-you've got another thing coming, because the very idea…of that that hurts me so much I cannot let it happen."

Skyler head slumped forward over the railing, still gripping Flynn's hand and stroking it as her shoulders began to shake.

"Ask yourself, Mom. Right by who? K-Kim says there is still a chance that you could be found not guilty. At least that it could be knocked back to m-misdemeanor so you could go to jail not prison, and that would make…so much difference because they're much more lenient with…the visiting times and, and phone calls and…" Flynn swallowed as his voice began to shake. "Please. Please try."